"We have experienced many coaches through lacrosse. I can hands down say that Heather’s coaching style is the bottom of the barrel. As a head coach you need to be a builder not a destroyer. There is a difference in hard coaching and destroying. She is the latter. Lacks communication and direction outside of reminding the players how bad they are doing. She will ruin a players love for the game. She is not capable of building team culture outside of her favorites. She over promises and under delivers. She provides lips service over coaching. When you have top talent wanting to walk away you have to look within yourself first. I believe that what she needs is to reflect. I think her knowledge is valuable. Unfortunately coaching isn’t all about ball knowledge and past playing experience. It’s about building young players up and shaping them into well rounded individuals that can thrive in a team environment. Thats where she misses. "

"There is so much to be said but to keep it short, run. She puts on a front during recruiting and runs her team off of fear and judgment. She has ruined many players love for lacrosse. If you are not a favorite good luck. "

"As the parent of a student athlete Heather talked a good game during the recruitment process and made everyone feel welcome and provided constructive feedback. Her winning record and obvious ability to produce a winning team was a big draw to the program. Red flags occurred later in the process which made us question her communication style and honesty but we trusted the process. Once the fall season started this trend continued and was reflected in the morale of the team. The aggressive nature of feedback and coaching style translated to frustrated players and aggressive filed play which set the team up for this kind of reputation in their conference which created hurdles. By the end of the spring season the morale of the players was very low with several hard working players barely seeing any field time with no constructive feedback to encourage improvement and unfulfilled promises. The emotional outbursts of the coaching staff directed at the players was not just behind closed doors and was concerning to witness and hear about. While her style was not a good fit for UMO I hope she learned from her experience there and can be successful with another program. Through it all I do believe she cared about the players on her team and wanted the best for them. "

"Heather is widely seen as a poor coach due to her lack of leadership, communication, and motivational skills. She often fails to support her players, rarely offers constructive feedback, and creates a negative environment that makes it hard for the team to grow or feel unified. Rather than inspiring confidence, her attitude tends to come off as dismissive or unapproachable, which makes it difficult for players to connect with her. Many team members feel unheard and undervalued under her guidance, leading to low morale and frustration. Overall, Heather's coaching style lacks the encouragement, respect, and energy that athletes need from someone in her position."

"I have mixed emotions about Heather. I enjoyed her when I first got to UMO, but she flipped really quickly to show a different person. I always felt when she was stressed about life, she'd take it out on us as players. She makes comments that aren't needed sometimes and makes fun of people to get laughs from players. She does have "favorites" on her team and if you're not a favorite... good luck. In some moments I liked Heather but a lot of times the way she coaches I never agreed with. Just hope you're a favorite. But personal life problems, I will say she can help with that."

"She’s a great coach knows how to hold authority to keep a strict program. "

"She really creates an undeniably respectable team culture. She makes it her #1 job to make sure if one person is having a bad day that our other teammates lift them up; this creates a positive and exciting vibe. "

"An amazing coach who is super helpful and loves working on on one to improve you as an athlete and a person off the field as well. "

"Over the years, Coach Coppola has been a great mentor and coach. I have enjoyed playing under her and still have a relationship even after my lacrosse career is over. I highly recommend her!"

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